teen suicide

Editors note: September is Suicide Prevention Month and we are exploring how suicide affects our lives and what we can do as students to prevent suicide among our peers.

Silence is everywhere. What did you just say? I laugh a little, this is a joke. Right? No. I know it’s not, with a single solemn glance from my father. I take a breath, sadness overwhelms me, I take another, no don’t do it, don’t cry, don’t cry, but the tears come anyway. Memories flood my brain. Moments in time that will never be had again.

Why?

My father tells me my 14-year-old cousin has “passed away” last night. He didn’t tell me right away how, and no one knows why, my closest cousin decided to end his life, but he did. Something was so wrong that he figured that it was his only way out… He figured that was all he could do.

But there are other options, other ways, other things to do. Death is the end, but as long as you’re alive, things can work out. But many people, such as my cousin don’t or did not understand this.

I propose that through Diversity Leadership Project, we explore the option of communication. I want to open the door to the possibility that through nonviolent communication we, as a club, and as individuals, can help ourselves, and our friends learn how to talk to each other. Help the bullies realize that there is another way of expressing themselves. I want to make a place where even the quietest voices can be heard by all. And for the ones that are being bullied, I want to offer them hope, and the strength to realize that all the anger and hate is truly not directed to them, and that people are always going to hate, so you shouldn’t worry about it.

All we need to do is take it slow, and enjoy tomorrow.

We have a responsibility to our friends and family to look for a solution, and we all have a responsibility to look after ourselves, because our life is not just our own. Your family, your friends, everyone worked together to make it what it is today. This change is not going to happen overnight and it’s not going to happen easily, but someone’s got to say something, someone’s got to do something, and why not you?